What Friends Are For
by PancakeWritesGreyGhost
Summary: Valerie fails a test in Chem and Danny offers to tutor her. Fluff, loads of teen awkwardness and a little angst ensues. DxV oneshot. GreyGhost pairing.


Valerie leaned back in her chair, groaning in annoyance, "I can't believe I got a C- on this test! I studied so hard too."

Granted, she did miss most of the chapters they'd been tested on, but it wasn't her fault! That stupid ghost, Phantom, had been reeking havoc on the town and she had a responsibility to protect the people of Amity Park.

As the bell rang to dismiss them, the curly haired girl was too busy muttering about _annoying ghosts _to notice the tall, equally distracted boy who was heading straight towards her. The two collided in a whirl of papers and flailing limbs. Valerie looked up, an irritated expression on her face until she saw the apologetic face of the blushing boy.

"Oh...uh hey Val—sorry about that, I was kinda distracted", he mumbled, running his hands through his mass of messy black hair. He reached out to grab the scattered papers they'd dropped. His eyes fell on her failed test and he gave her a sympathetic look, standing up and reaching his hand out to help the girl to her feet.

"Chemistry isn't your strong suit I'm guessing" he asked with a slight teasing tone.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring his outstretched hand and dusting her skirt off as she rose. "I'm not bad at it, I just missed most of the material we were tested on" she replied defensively.

Realizing his tone had probably come off more rude than teasing, he quickly tried to backtrack, raising his hands up in a show of surrender, "Sorry, I—I didn't mean it like that, Val. I was only kidding."

He paused and rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling his feet nervously. The two stood in an awkward silence for a moment before he looked up with a slight smile, "I...could help you study for your next test...if you umm...you know want to" he blushed, letting the question hang in the air between them.

Valerie looked at the awkward teen, and when he started to chew his bottom lip, a nervous habit of his she'd picked up on, she felt her own cheeks heating up, "Sure-I mean if you want to, I guess studying together would be kinda fun". She refused to admit to needing help—the huntress' pride wouldn't allow that.

He looked up with a surprised look on his face before he broke into a wide grin that made the corners of his eyes crinkle adorably.

"Awesome, that's great—we can start today, I mean—errrmmm, if you're not busy, or uh we could-"

"I get off work around 6 tonight, we can meet at your place around 6:30?" she replied, stopping the boy from his ramblings.

"Yeah, yeah, that'd be, uhhh cool" He replied, attempting to sound casual, even as his voice cracked slightly.

The brown skinned girl smiled and walked off with a slight wave, as he leaned against his locker waving back with a goofy grin.

Once Valerie had turned the corner, Danny pumped his fist in the air excitedly, somehow managing to twist his feet up in the process and flail back against his locker, turning intangible and slipping into the tight metal enclosure. His now pale white cheeks glowed a brilliant neon green as he continued grinning like an idiot.

Danny rushed downstairs as he heard the doorbell ring, almost tripping and falling down the stairs in his haste. Unfortunately, he wasn't as fast as his mom, who pulled the door open with a wide smile as his dad lumbered into the foyer, smiling pointedly between Danny and the pretty, teenage girl with the curly hair.

"Sooo, you must be Valerie, Danny's told us so much about you" gushed Maddie Fenton, waving the girl inside.

"Yeah, we were really excited to hear about you-with Danny running around everywhere and coming home late and whatnot, we were beginning to think he was involved in drugs or some new crazed teen rebellion thing, finding it was just a girl was quite a surprise!" said jack, grabbing his son up by the shoulders and ruffling the boys already messy hair with his large hands.

Danny rolled his eyes and wriggled out of his dad's grasp, rushing over to Valerie, who was standing in the foyer with an awkward blush, and grabbing her hand before his parents could embarrass him further.

"Uhhh c'mon, we can go to my room and study" he mumbled, his entire face burning a deep red,as he practically dragged Valerie up the stairs. Valerie gave his parents a rushed hello and a wave as she tried to keep up with Danny's pace.

Once they reached his room, Danny shut the door with a loud groan and flopped onto his bed covering his face as he spoke dryly, "Well that was about as embarrassing as I expected"

Valerie walked over to his desk and slid into his rolling chair, spinning it around to face him, she gave him a sly grin deciding to watch him squirm a little longer, "So, you talk about me to your parents?"

He jolted upright, his hands flailing madly as he sputtered, "I-uhhhh no-it's just, I may have mentioned that we had a project together once, not like I like you-or errr I mean I don't not like you-it's just like as a friend...I mentioned you. AS. A. FRIEND, y'know. My parents just take everything out of context-they"

The girl's laughter cut him off, as she rocked back and forth in the chair. He gave her a pointed look, as she settled down and wiped a tear from her eye, "I'm sorry, you're just really cute when you're nervous, Danny"

Danny flushed slightly at her compliment and straightened up, quirking an eyebrow at her, "Ohhh, so you think I'm cute" he mused, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Whatever, Neil Armstrong, don't get all cocky" she replied with a smirk, trying to sound casual and hoping he didn't see her blush.

"Anyways, I thought you were supposed to be helping me study for Chemistry, not flirting"

The boy shrugged and gave her one of his signature smirks, "Who says I can't do both". Valerie just rolled her eyes playfully, he reminded her of someone when he smirked like that, but she couldn't quite remember who.

A thought suddenly occurred to her and she turned to give Danny a questioning look as he slid to the floor against his bed, "So what do you do when you're out late at night? You're not with me, obviously"

A look of terror flashed across the boys face and he averted his gaze, mumbling a reply, "Umm, well most of the time...I'm with Sam and Tucker" he said carefully.

She quirked eyebrow at that, it was obvious he was lying or at the least not being completely honest, that wasn't like him at all. She looked him up and down suspiciously, wondering what it was that was such a big deal he felt like he couldn't tell her—after all she thought they were friends. Sometimes she thought they could be more to, but then when he did stuff like this, she wasn't so sure.

"Mhhmmm, well if you decide you wanna talk about whatever it is... you know you can tell me." She walked over to him, sitting down beside him and placing her hand on his leg, looking up at his face with a serious expression, "I wouldn't ever judge you"

He stood up and walked over to his textbooks, scattered across his desk, picking up his Chem book and fidgeting with it. He finally turned to her with a sad smile, "Thanks, Val...it's complicated...don't worry though, it's nothing I can;t handle" He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Y'know if you ever wanna talk to me, I'll never judge you either" he looked away after he said it and fiddled with his pens for a moment.

Valerie stared at the boy, unsure of what to say, 'Does he know my secret? Why else would he say that...she quickly banished the thoughts, shaking her head there's no way Danny knows.

She was broken from her thoughts as Danny slid to the ground beside her, splaying his supplies around him and sitting the textbook in his lap. Valerie followed his lead and cracked open her book, staring at the symbols and formulas with a confused glare.

He saw her look and chuckled softly, "Don't worry Val, we Fentons are science experts, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be a Chem extraordinaire"

She pulled her eyes away from the confusing jumble of letters and numbers and smiled slightly, "Thanks, Danny"

"That's what friends are for" he replied, matching her smile with one of his own. The two just sat there smiling at each other like a couple of idiots until a loud crash downstairs broke the moment. Danny cleared his throat and rubbed his neck, tearing his eyes away from her and focusing on the book in his lap, "So let's start with what you do understand and then we'll work on what you don't, how bout that"

They turned their attention to the book and began working out problems and reading over formulas and why certain reactions had a particular effect. It turned out Valerie wasn't nearly as lost as she'd thought, when she actually got to have the concept explained to her she caught on quickly. The two studied for another hour, a good portion of which was spent flirting lightly and trying to hide their blushes.

As the clock neared 8, Jack Fenton barged through the door, causing both teens to jump and turn away from each other nervously.

Jack, usually pretty dense and unobservant, noticed and smiled, giving his son a curious look, "Danny, you and you're friend can come on down, you're mom's just finishing up dinner if you want to set everything up." He put a teasing emphasis on the word friend, causing Danny to blush for the umpteenth time that night.

"Oh, um yeah, here we come" Danny replied, standing up and holding his hand out for Valerie, as his dad turned and headed downstairs. "Do you wanna stay for dinner?"

"Yeah that'd be great", Valerie accepted his hand, flinching slightly at the unexpected coolness of it.

He saw her flinch and stuffed his hands in his pockets, mumbling guiltily, "Sorry, I'm uhhh anemic, my hands are always kinda cold" He turned away from her and began walking downstairs, a sad look in his eyes.

Valerie was slightly taken aback by his reaction and she caught up with him, touching his shoulder lightly to stop him at the top of the stairs, "Hey,it's fine, you don't have to apologize, I just uh, wasn't expecting that. I guess I always thought you'd have really warm hands to match your personality" she teased, gently removing his hand from his pocket and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Danny looked up at her and smiled gratefully, returning her squeeze before slipping his hand to his side,"Thanks, Val."

She grinned and gave a nonchalant shrug, "Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"

Dinner had been a rowdy occasion, with Maddie and Jack embarrassing Danny with their continual discussion of him and his teen problems and how happy they were he'd brought home such a cute girl-that only increased when Val expressed her interest in their ghost hunting activities, which led to a shared look of nervousness between Danny and Jazz. Though, Jazz mostly contributed to the embarrassment with her attempts to steer her parents away from their overzealous Danny bragging and her attempts to subtly psychoanalys Valerie hadn't helped at all. But, despite Danny's embarrassment, Val seemed to have a good time as she was smiling and laughing and teasing him through out dinner. And when she'd glanced over and seen his face was exceptionally red halfway through the meal, she had slipped her hand into his under the table and it remained that way through the rest of the dinner. It hadn't really helped his blushing stop but he enjoyed the feeling of her warm, soft hands warming his icy hands and causing his heart to pump loudly in his chest.


End file.
